As we’re making the final leg of our journey from Belfast to Dublin, I look around at all the amazing people I’ve been lucky enough to now call my friends. I don’t know if it is because we’re in a different country and we are so far out of our comfort zones, but I have never bonded with a group so quickly.

This trip has provided things that no classroom could attempt to do. There was adventure and excitement every single day. From Giants Causeway to Slieve League to the giant hill we had to climb every day in Derry, our limits were tested physically and mentally.

Standing on the top of the highest cliffs in Europe, you’re no longer thinking about your problems because they seem so insignificant now. As you look out across the ocean and then to the people surrounding you, you realize there is so much more to life than what you have known so far. There really are no limits in this life if you’re willing to reach that far.

If anyone considers studying abroad, I plead them with such intensity to go. Just go and explore the world around you. How do you expect to really live if you’re in one spot your entire life?

In two weeks, I feel as though I’ve accomplished more than I have in my whole lifetime. I have made some incredible, lifelong friends from America who were right under my nose the entire time and I would not have met them without this trip. I have even met some amazing Irish people who have opened my eyes and ears to the intriguing culture that’s surrounding me.

As we part ways at the airport, I soak in the last few moments I have with this group of students that have impacted me so much. We are all about to start new adventures as we take off to different parts of the world. I have learned and laughed so much these past two weeks and to be honest, I would never trade a second of it for anything in the world.